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robbuckland.com I am writing this page in London 3 days after the fantastic events of the 5th RNCM Saxophone Day, sponsored by Henri Selmer Paris, on Sunday 6th November. What a great celebration of all things saxophonic! The artistic programme this year was the strongest ever, with a stellar cast of some of the world's finest exponents of the Saxophone playing in an astounding array of styles, and the buzz throughout the day was incredible - thankyou to everyone who came for making the day such a success! The day began with the massed Saxophone Orchestra, with nearly 200 players working though new arrangements and this year a commission from RNCM composition student Lucy Pankhurst - without doubt the best sound yet from this huge collection of saxophonists! Following a much needed cup of tea(!) Bob Mintzer, one of our celebrity guests this year, gave a masterclass and performance with a first class rhythm section, touching on subjects as diverse as technique, practice, listening and much more. Bob is my favourite Jazz Saxophonist, his fabulous sound and never ending creativity are astounding, and his command of the instrument is truly humbling and awe inspiring, and to be able to hang out with him for five days was a real privilege! This year, combined with the RNCM International Wind Festival (IWF), we were able to schedule 2 concerts with Wind Orchestra, and the lunchtime concert with Chetham's School of Music's excellent Wind Orchestra featured Andy Scott's double Saxophone Concerto "Dark Raindrops". What an incredible piece of music, without doubt one of the highlights of the whole Festival, and a real talking point throughout the day. Andy really has elevated himself into the highest level of composers working anywhere today with this amazing work - the piece made such an impact on players and audience alike, from the opening screaming notes on the two unison Altos to the stunningly beautiful chorale that builds to the end of the piece and had many of the audience moved to tears. John Harle and I were soloists, John (our other celebrity guest for the weekend) playing Soprano and Alto, and me playing Alto and Jazz Tenor (a tricky double!!), and the band scored both symphonically and in an almost big band context - all this made for an unforgettable musical experience. An afternoon of workshops on a huge range of topics was punctuated by another concerto performance from John Harle, with the Guildhall School of Music Wind Ensemble, conducted by Timothy Reynish, playing John Kechley's Saxophone Concerto brilliantly. The evening triple bill concert saw the Apollo Quartet playing an unbelievably diverse range of music, opening with Dai Fujikura's dazzling soundscape "Reach Out", starting on three sopranos and sopranino and gradually moving to SATB, followed by the world premiere of Bob Mintzer's "New England Autumn", a quintet commissioned by the ASQ for the five of us to play - what an honour to play with Bob! We then played a short set of music composed by the members of the ASQ accompanying black and white silent films, before Bob returned to the stage with the rhythm section from Sax Assault, Elliot Henshaw (Drums), Ollie Collins (Bass) and the astonishing young virtuoso Gwylim Symcock (piano) to play a set of original works and arrangements of a few choice standards. The finale of the day was the high energy set from Andy Scott's Sax Assault, with Bob joining us for the final number. Everyone played out of their skins, but special mention must go to Alto player Simon Willescroft who continues to shine as one of the brightest lights on the UK scene, and gave us a memorable sax battle with Bob Mintzer that brought to a close an unforgettable set that warranted the five minute standing ovation from the sell-out crowd! An incredible day! I got to play on stage with two of my saxophone heroes, John Harle and Bob Mintzer, and with the ASQ and Sax Assault too - probably enough stylistic variety for one day!!! I've been buzzing ever since! I'm playing all over the place for the rest of the year, London, Spain, Portugal, Scotland, and many concerts and workshops throughout the UK, without doubt one of the busiest schedules of my career so far - check out the forthcoming events page for info - and do come and say "hi!" if you make it to some of the events. Also, check out my new series of compositions and publications for Saxophone!: a new study book (co-written with Andy Scott) of 12 medium to (very) advanced studies "Changing Times", and a new book from the ASQ for Alto and Piano (grades 4-6ish) have just been released, to complement the ASQ "Solo Saxophone" book, and "Café Europa" (again co-written by Andy and me) which are now featured on several grades on the Associated Board syllabus. Visit www.astute-music.com for info on these exciting new additions to the repertoire! Plans are also now well underway for my next solo recording, taking place at the beginning of next year with my Equivox Trio (with percussionist Simone Rebello and Pianist Peter Lawson) which will feature some great new music from, amongst others, Barbara Thompson, Graham Fitkin, Bob Mintzer and a new commission from jazz pianist Jason Rebello (Sting's current piano player!). Hopefully to be released in the middle of 2006 - watch this space! Thanks for all your emails and positive comments about the new website. Do keep in touch, and do come to one of the concerts on the events page! Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year! Keep on blowin'!
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